Control of the Border States allowed emancipation
to be used as a tool against the Confederacy
through "property" confiscation, the use
of freedmen in the armed forces and, ultimately
through the demoralization of Johnny Reb and his
Confederate supporters.

The fact
that slaves were already emancipating themselves
presented an opportunity for the Lincoln
administration to use for the Unionís benefit by
issuing a presidential proclamation ending slavery
in those areas of rebellion.

Pressure
from abolitionists and Lincolnís own convictions
to bring the slave states in line with the
principle in the Declaration of Independence that
all men are created equal.

Since emancipation was popular with the British working
class, the policy helped convince the British government not to
recognize the Confederacy diplomatically.

The Lincoln administration and the
Republican-controlled Congress had been chipping away at the
institution of slavery since the beginning of the war, and the
Emancipation Proclamation was a logical next step in that process.